City of Marion Case Study

Case Study:City of Marion, Illinois

The City of Marion has deployed ten iPads in the field for various functions within its city departments. Director or Information Technology, Terance Henry, was tasked with finding a way to mount the devices in several different city departments. “We use iPads in code enforcement, at our water treatment and sewage plants but primarily in our fire department” said Henry. "Our goal was to find a single charging and mounting solution that would integrate into each of those departments."

The Challenge

Marion’s biggest issues with their iPad deployment were focused around keeping their devices charged and overall employee safety.

Workers with who used iPads in their vehicles did not have a dedicated home to mount their devices. For instance, “once an employee receives a call, they would need to continually reach over onto the seat or floor of the vehicle to retrieve the iPad and get directions” Henry said, making finding directions often a potentially dangerous task.

iPads deployed in the field were never consistently charged, “our workers that had iPads would just lay them on the seat of their vehicles” Henry said. “We had problems with iPads being dead, thus impacting our ability to serve the community”

The Decision Process and Implementation

For Henry, the decision process was based mostly on key features, ease of installation and price.

Mounting method and accessibility to the iPad were both primary concerns. "We were looking for a specific solution, one that kept our devices housed in a spot that was easily reachable for our drivers" Henry mentioned.

Because the Rugged System can be mounted either directly into the dash of a vehicle or via any VESA 75/100 pattern, installation in Marion's City vehicles was a breeze.

“Installing the Rugged Systems into our city vehicles was extremely easy, but the game changer was the fact that it made our guys safer driving around in the field" said Henry. "The magnetic mounting feature on the Rugged System keeps everything hands-free."

Results

The City of Marion saw several benefits from implementing the Rugged System. First and foremost, increased employee safety. “Workers are no longer distracted with trying to retrieve their iPads, they’re always mounted where they’re supposed to be” Henry said. “Our iPads always have a charge, work gets done more consistently and much quicker” he added.

One of the most valuable results from the Rugged System implementation came from reduction in costs spent on insurance. “Because of the Rugged System we have increased the safety of our workers and in return have received a reduction in costs from our insurance company.”

“Overall, the LaunchPort Rugged System’s wireless charging and magnetic mounting makes day to day work in the field much easier.”

"Our iPads now always have a charge; work gets done more consistently and much quicker"

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